


The Boy Who Stayed

by WolfMadeFromAsh



Category: Sterek - Fandom, teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Alpha pack attack, Feels, M/M, Stilinskis feels, boyds death, derek is hurting, sterek, stiles is caring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-09-17 14:04:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16975971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfMadeFromAsh/pseuds/WolfMadeFromAsh
Summary: The death of a beta. One thing any alpha would dread. The death of a beta at you own hands? Unthinkable.Stiles comes to the loft to find Cora crying over Boyd’s body and Derek...Derek’s just kneeling there. Soaking wet, in a few inches of water and looking so completely and utterly broken.His feelings for the wolf make him stay.How could he even think about leaving him when now is the time he may need someone the most. And if his own sister won’t be there for him, he will.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So...this idea actually came to me on a car ride home on my birthday this year. I was annoyed and pissed and needed something to distract me. I opened up Word on my phone and just started writing. No real thought or plot in mind and it just kind of started to take form. At least one more chapter to come, maybe a third. It won’t be that long and might not have any like...detailed relations (if you catch my meaning). But I thought the mature rating would have that covered just in case. I can always change it. 
> 
> There are some Stilinski feels and some Hale family feels. But I think I’ve made Derek and Stiles pretty sickly adorable. Maybe a little out of natural character but I wanted a bit of a lighter tone. It’s more fluffy than anything.

 

Everything in the room was still as he slid in front of the open door. There was water everywhere; an effort to get the upper hand on Kali, which clearly did not work.

Derek sat kneeling on the ground, his face twisted showing sorrow and shame. He looked at his hands, now blunt and human and harmless.

There was a pause, a question hanging in the air, then he saw him.

Boyd.

Stiles’ heart lurched, something in his chest tightening. He didn’t even think, his feet just naturally carried him into the stormy looking room.

Cora was crying over the betas body, her brother almost forgotten. That made it worse somehow.

Derek would hate himself.

If Cora _,_ his own  _sister_ , could not bear to provide him with any sort of comfort then he’d never find a way to forgive himself.

And Stiles knew, without question, that this was not his fault. This blood was not on him.

He stepped into the loft, behind the shaking alpha, raising his hand up with a brief pause before letting it fall on his shoulder.

Derek sagged back instantly at the contact, his breathing hitched. Stiles squeezed, trying to ground him. Tell him without any words that he was there, he wasn’t alone.

When Cora couldn’t bear the stench of death and despair, she left.

Stiles stayed.

Stiles stayed, Derek wept. And Stiles didn’t know when they reached this point were neither one was phased by this show of emotion, but it made something shift inside him.

_I’ll tell him tonight._

Sometime later, after Scott and Isaac had come, after Allison and Lydia showed up, after Argent helped to remove Boyd from the loft, the closest thing to a home Derek had found in so long now tainted with death, Stiles still stayed.

And Derek spoke.

“You don’t have to stay. They won’t be back tonight.” His voice was hollow, almost robotic and void of emotion.

Not masked, just…nothing.

Stiles stood at the counter, his back to Derek as the alpha drifted across the floor.

_He shouldn’t be alone._

“I could stay for a bit, just in case. I’m not that useful in a fight against them, but…I don’t know. Better than nothing.” Stiles tells him with a shrug.

Derek kept his back to him, when he spoke again he sounded broken. “I’ll just get you killed too.”

Stiles squeezed his eyes shut, keeping his own tears a bay. He knew this would happen; the man carries the world on his shoulders and everything bad in it is somehow bound to be his fault.

“Derek-"

“You should go.” His tone was almost cold, but in a false way. This was an act; push people away and they’ll go.

Stiles wasn’t going to be one of those people.

“I’d like to stay.” He mumbled to the counter.

Derek paused, turning around. “Didn’t you  _hear_  me!?” His voice was growing louder, but the angry wasn’t there, not really. “ _Leave_!”

Stiles sighed heavily, not willing to fight but refusing to give up.

He was going to be there for him, he wouldn’t leave him.  Not ever.

“Derek-"

“No! Stiles, get  _out_!  ** _Now_**! I don’t  ** _need_** you here. I don’t  ** _want_** you here!”

**_Need. Want._ **

Funny how we say what we really want even when we think we aren’t.

“Derek…” Stiles turned to face him as he heard his footsteps growing closer.

“Do you have a death wish? You’re going to get yourself killed staying near me. You have an  _out_ Stiles! Take it.”

“No.”

Derek blinked at him, dumbfounded. “What?”

“I said  _no._ You think that if I walk out that door, walk away from all of this that I’ll somehow  _magically_ be safe?  These alphas? They  _know_ me, Derek. I’m not safe, not on my own. But more than  _that_?” Stiles paused searching Derek’s face for his own courage. “I don’t  _want_ to leave this. To leave…I don’t want to leave  _you.”_

 _“_ Leave me?” Derek’s voice was quiet now, soft and gentle; barely a whisper.

_He’d talked to Lydia once about this, kind of; about how he was so frustrated with Derek and how irritating he was and who did he think he was trying to tell everyone what to do and how dare he just keep barging into his room through the window and…_

_“You like him.” Lydia had said to him with a smirk playing on her lips_  

_“What? No, no way. It’s **Derek** and I don’t even…I’m not…I mean I never…”_

_“Stiles, you know it’s okay right? You don’t have to_ **be**   _anything. You can just…like who you like." She told him with a shrug, like her implying his attraction to the same sex wasn't a big deal. "And right now, you like Derek.”_

_He stewed on that for a while, 4 months now. Eventually, when he accepted that he may actually find both genders appealing, he saw that Lydia was right._

_“Of course I was; I **am** a genius.”_

_It wasn't a big deal, at least it didn't have to be. But pining for a very standoffish werewolf and trying to **hide**  the _attraction _, well that's not an easy feat._

_Especially then that werewolf looks like Derek Hale._

“Yes.  _You.”_

“Why?”

Stiles finds he almost loses himself in Derek’s hazel gaze, a kaleidoscope of colors making them so much more than just  _hazel._ He searches his mind for an answer; how do you explain something you’re only just understanding yourself?

“Because I’m stubborn. And I’m the only one who won’t let you push them away. Because when Jackson was the Kanima you shoved me out of his reach and got yourself paralyzed in a pool. Because when I  _talk?_ You  _listen.”_

“I’m toxic.” Derek tells him, his voice broken and lonely, taking a step closer.

“Not to me.” Stiles stands still, letting Derek come to him.

The alpha shakes his head sadly, coming up to the boy with his head bowed down. He reaches out slowly, his fingers brushing against Stiles’ wrist.

“I’m poison to anything good. I can’t have…” Derek pulls his hand away, shaking his head with more force, taking a step back.

Stiles’ heart jumps, his arm is out before he can think, reaching out for the wolf before he’s too far to grab. He takes hold of his wrist, tugging him back to him.

“You are  _not_ poison. You’re not toxic. You’re not a disease. You’re not an abomination. You’re just…you’ve had a run of shit luck. You…you feel too much too soon. People take advantage of a kind-heart.”

Derek’s eyes are lock on where Stiles’ hand is on his wrist. “I’m not a… _kind-heart_.”

Stiles reaches out, feeling brave, and puts his other hand to the side of Derek’s face gently tilting his head up to meet his eyes.

“You  _are._ You are more than what you think of yourself, Derek. You put us first, all of us. You act like Isaac leaving doesn’t hurt you but I know it does. But if that’s what he thinks is best for him, then you’ll let him go. No matter how much it hurts you. You tried to stay strong for everyone after we found Erica. You tried to stay strong even tonight.”

“ ** _Stop_**.” Derek protests, sounding pained.

“No, you’re going to listen to me and all the nice things I have to say about you. Derek, you’re  _incredible_. How you don’t see that blows my  _mind_! You feel like you’ve failed, right? As an alpha? It’s a shit situation and I know there isn’t a damn thing I can say to change that but  _Derek_ , the only way you fail is if you give  _up._ You  _can’t_ give up. Not now. You still have Cora, Isaac. Scott will come around.” Stiles pauses, taking a shaky breath. “You have  _me._ I’m not going anywhere.”

Derek’s eyes glisten, staring back at Stiles with what could only be hope. “Scott’s your best friend, you’ll follow him.”

Stiles smirks. “Yeah, Scott’s like a brother. I love him sure but…not…not like I…” 

_It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid. You told yourself you’d do it. You said you tell him._

Stiles closest his eyes and pushes forward. “Not like I love  _you_.”

The silence that follows is deafening. Stiles chances a look at Derek; he’s still there, he looks shock or stunned or…angry? No, not angry but… _something_.

Stiles drops his hands to his sides. “That’s…sorry. I’m sorry but it’s kind of…I had to just say it. I don’t…look it’s nothing okay, it doesn’t have to  _be_ anything but I just needed to say it. To tell you. Cause all this shit is happening and if-if something happened to you and I never said it…well I wouldn’t be able to live with that. Wherever I stand with you I wouldn’t want something to happen and you never know that-that someone loves you. Okay? So I just had to say it. Now that it’s been said and I have successfully made things awkward I’m going to crash on the couch. Because as much as rejection sucks, I meant it when I said I wasn’t leaving. So I’ll just go. Over there. To the couch. Right now.”

Stiles moves to step around Derek, feeling flustered and embarrassed; his earlier bravado having vanished after his confession. The wolf takes a half step to the right, keeping the boy in place. When he tries to go the other way Derek’s hand reaches out, connecting with his waist. His fingers curl around his side, tugging him closer.

They stand like that for a few beats, the air feeling thick and heavy. Stiles isn’t sure what to do with this, what this means. Derek’s standing there, his hand warm pressed against his hip. His thumb rubbing back and forth.

“I don’t deserve that.” Derek tells him, sorrow flooding his soft voice.

Stiles swallows, his heart thumping hard against his ribs. He licks his dry lips nervously. “What about what  _I_ deserve?” He asks quietly, barely a whisper and if it weren’t being said to a werewolf it would have gone unheard.

Derek’s eyes track up Stiles’ body, from the point of contact at his waist up to his amber-whiskey eyes. “You deserve  _everything.”_ He tells the boy with such conviction he’d be an idiot to try and argue that. “You deserve more. More than me.”

Broken. Derek sounds just absolutely  _broken._ It hits Stiles then that there is a very real chance that Derek, his crush to end all crushes and would put his twisted obsession with Lydia to shame, may  _actually_ feel the same. But he sees himself as something toxic.

_Not just a crush. So much **more** than a crush. _

Stiles steps forward just and fraction, close enough to feel the heat from Derek’s body. He brings his hand to the side of the wolf’s face, stroking his cheek gently with his thumb as he leans in.

“Stiles.” Derek warns, shaking his head.

“Derek, you just said I deserve everything.”

“I didn’t mean me.”

“Everything means  _everything_ , Derek.”

“You shouldn’t want…” Derek pauses, biting off his sentence with a sad whining-growl.

“Shouldn’t want what,  _you_?” Derek nods. “Well…tough.” Stiles leans in again, before Derek has a moment to think or stop him, and captures the wolf’s lips with his.

Derek’s fingers dig into Stiles’ hip as he’s threading his fingers through the soft black locks on the wolf’s head.

Stiles stumbles forward, eliminating any space between the two, biting at Derek’s lower lip.

Stiles moves to deepen the kiss, allowing Derek’s tongue to push against his own and it was  _blissful._

But, short lived.

Derek shot back away from Stiles as if he’d had hit a wall of mountain ash. His eyes were blown wide as the red faded from his irises. Stiles moves forward to follow him, his brow drawn in confusion.

“Stop.” Derek commanded, putting a hand out. “Just…just  ** _stop_**. You-you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Derek-"

“You don’t  _get it_ , Stiles. I’m not  _good_ for you! It doesn’t matter what I want, what the wolf inside me tells me I  _need._ Bottom line, I’m not  ** _good._** Period. So just…stay away. Go home. Get out of here.”

“You want me?”

Derek looks to Stiles, confusion and frustration drawn on his face. “What?”

“You said…it didn’t matter what you want, what the wolf needs.”

“I-that…no I-”

Stiles lets out a soft laugh, taking a slow step forward. “I’ve never seen you flustered before.”

“Stiles, please. Just go  _home_.” Stiles shook his head and continued moving towards the wolf. “You don’t love me.” Derek told him, retreating back. “No one does, no one  _should._ You can’t…you need to  _go_.”

“Don’t tell me what I feel Derek.” Stiles’ tone if firm, edging on anger.

“You’re only  _17_ , you’ve barely lived. You can’t love me, it’s just a crush…We can’t…Stiles. No matter what I feel for you, what I’ve  _felt,_ for as  _long_ as I’ve felt it…we just… _can’t.”_

“You know, I really  _hate_ when people insinuate that I am too  _young_ to know what I feel or what I want.” Stiles can feel the anger building in side him, he’d been told too many times that he can’t make certain decisions about his own life because he’s too  _green_ , too  _young_ , to understand what they even mean. But he knows his heart. He knows what love is.

He remembers the way his dad lit up when his mother walked into the room, the way her eyes softened when he would bring her a beautiful peony just  _because._

He knew love.  _Knows_ love.

And yeah. He is in love with Derek Hale. Irrevocably and  _hopelessly_ in love with a  _werewolf._ He’ll take the danger of hunters, the alpha pack, and whatever else comes for him.

“I’m not some dumb child, okay? I’m well aware that the concept of  _love_ is a big deal. Just like I’ve always known that I wasn’t  _really_ in love with Lydia. I’m not stupid.  _Lydia_ , was a crush; she smart and beautiful but she’s…well, she’s Lydia; there aren’t really many words to describe her. She was a  _crush_. An infatuation. An illusion of perfection. But, you are  _not just a crush_ for me, Derek. You’re just not. And don’t you dare stand there and all but tell me you  _feel the same way_ and try and tell me it’s a  _crush_. Fuck you for thinking that! You don’t get to  _tell me_ how I feel or diminish the feelings I have!”

Derek was backed up against the back of the couch, Stile standing inches from him with his heart pounding in his chest. It was beating at a rapid pace but there were no fluctuations in it, no blips.

No lies.

Derek felt Stiles’ anger feed his own frustration, turning them to mirror the boy's emotions.

“I thought I was in love at 17 too! And do you know what  _that_ got me? A burned house and no family! You’re young and naive! And you can’t  _possibly_ know what you want! I’m not saying this because I’m trying to tell you what you feel! What I felt, seemed  _very_ real. I’m telling you this because I have  _been_ there!”

“ _You’re not Kate, **Derek**_!”

“No, I’m  _worse!”_ Stiles stumbles back at Derek's tone, shocked at the statement. “You’re in  _danger_ when you’re with me. I could lose control-”

“You  _won’t._ ” Stiles cut in, stepping forward.

“I could hurt you-” Derek continued.

“You wouldn’t.” Stiles insisted, getting closer.

“You could get hurt  _because_ of me, of what I  _am.”_ Derek reached out, clutching at Stiles’ shoulders. “People come after me,  _supernatural_ shit comes after me. If you’re near me you become a  _target._ If they see what you mean to me, you become a  _target._ I should have pushed you away a  _long_ time ago, I should have been the beast you thought I was when we first met. But I was  _selfish_.” Derek drops his hands with a sigh, wiping a hand down his face. “You see how I’m worse? Worse than Kate? I know the dangers of having you near but I ignore them, I can’t force myself to push you away enough.”

“So,  _don’t_ , Derek! Don’t push me away! I can handle myself, and  _if_ I can’t then, well…. we’ll  _deal_ with it. But don’t tell me I deserve everything and tell me I can’t have you! Don’t tell me that you care about be and that I  _mean_ something to you after I fucking tell you the  _I am in love with you_ and then tell me that we can’t be anything. That’s _not_ fair _.”_

“I told you, I don’t get to have the things I want. I don’t get to be in love and be with the only  _one_ person who’s ever had my wolf clawing under my skin like this. I  _can’t._ There’s too much risk and danger. Everything I’ve ever cared about gets ripped away!  _Painfully._ ”

“That’s not going to  _happen_!” Stiles yelled, practically pleading. “Derek,  _please_. You…I’ve never  _felt_ like this before.” He tells him quietly, calmly. “Everything like…falls in place when I’m near you or think about you or dream about any sort of future. It just… _fits.”_

Derek shook his head sadly. “You’re not getting it Stiles.”

“Getting what? The fact that you won’t be with me, won’t come right out and  _say_ you love me? That you’re so bad, so evil, we’re basically doomed before we start? I’m not going anywhere, Derek.  _Where_ would I even go? You’re allowed to have something good. You’re allowed a little happiness.”

“Stiles, if you got hurt or…” Derek squeezes his eyes shut, breathing deep. “Or got  _killed_ , because of all of this…I…it wouldn’t just be like losing another person I care for.”

That meant something. Derek’s eyes said so, but hewasn’t saying  _what_  it meant. There was more, Stiles could sense it.

“What do  _mean_ Derek? You have to explain this to me. If you’re going to just throw me away  _fine_ , but you’ve  _got_ to give me something here.”

Derek looked devastated. “Throw…throw you away? I…Stiles, that’s not…You think  _that’s_ what I’m trying to do?”

Stiles’ gaze falls to the floor, he shrugs his shoulders feeling the fight bleed out of him. “Feels like it.” Stiles sigh, pushing his hand through his hair. “You know what. I’m…I’m tired. It’s been a long day, and I just…I don’t have it in me to keep doing this. You don’t want there to be anything between us, fine. I obviously can’t convince you that you’re being ridiculous or that you aren’t the shitty person you think you are. So, what’s the point? You’ve made up your mind. You’re closing yourself off, I see it already. So…fine. I…just…fine. You win.” Stiles turns around, walking towards the door. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

Derek can almost  _hear_ Stiles' heart break with those final words. He  _swears_ he can. But it’s for the best, it’ll be what keeps him safe.

The wolf is clawing and snapping inside of him, whining and growling at Stiles’ retreating form.

**_Mate. Hurt. Help._ **

Derek clenches his hand into tight fists, his claws popping out and digging into his palm. He closes his eyes, trying to push all thoughts from his head and block out the sounds around him. He can still hear Stiles’ shallow footstep as he makes his way down the stairs. They’re slow and awkward, shuffled and forced. Then there’s the sound of him sniffling, the catching of his breath as he tries to hold back whatever emotion he doesn’t want getting out.

And the smell of tears.

“Stiles.” Derek says his name on a breath. “Stiles.” He calls a little louder, finding his voice as he surges forward. “Stiles!” He calls out, voice echoing in the loft before he’s out the open door and taking the stairs two at a time. “Stiles, wait!” He calls to him the moment his eyes find him in the stairwell.

Stiles stops, making it two flights down before he could feel Derek just a few steps above him. He keeps his back to the wolf, knowing he already looks like some broken 16-year-old girl from chick flicks who’s had her heart broken for the first time.

Well…he  _is_ that 16-year-old girl who’s just had her heart broken for the first time…well  _17_ and  _boy_ , but same different. The premise of this story is the same.

“Stiles. I…I’m sorry.”

Stiles whirls around, his feet tangling in themselves, and stumbles back. His foot misses the next step and he flails his arms around as he feels himself fall. “Fuck!” He mutters as he goes, closing his eyes to brace for impact.

But he doesn’t fall.

He’s actually fine.

And in Derek’s arms. 

Pulled against his chest.

His very, very  _firm_ chest. And okay, this is something he could get used to.

“Careful.” Derek says with a smug look, because  _of course._

“How can you possibly think you’ll be the reason something happens to me when you’re usually the one to save my ass?” Stiles asks, looking up at the wolf clinging to him.

Derek pulls back, frowning when he sees Stiles’ face drop. He lowers himself down onto the stairs, gently tugging on Stiles’ wrist to bring him down next to him. They sit side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder, for a few silent moments before Derek is sighing heavily and rubbing his hands down his face in frustration.

“You get under my skin.” He tells him.

Stiles tilts his head, raising an eyebrow. “Okay. Like I sort of already  _knew_ that.”

“I try to push you away, you push back. I push more and then when you  _finally_ leave,  _finally_ give up,  _I’m_ the one who can’t let go.” A small smile starts to tug at the corner of Stiles’ mouth. Derek glances at him before dropping his gaze to his feet. “Don’t look so smug.”

Stiles nudges Derek gently. “You’re smiling a bit there Mr. Werewolf.”

Derek scoffs and nods his head. “Cause you’re an idiot.”

“Nah. I don’t think  _that’s_ it.” He tells him, leaning back with his elbows on the step behind him.

Derek looks back at him with a smirk. “You didn’t deny that you’re an idiot.” He pointed out.

Stiles narrows his eyes at him, shoving at his shoulder. “Shut up.”

Derek look back in front of him again, away from the boy beside him. “You need to know something before…before you make any decisions about me.” He says quietly.

Stiles sits up straight, turning in the little room that he has to do so, looking far to eager and hopeful.

Derek wishes he could be as hopeful.

Life has taught him the hard way to never wish or hope for anything.

“As much as I’m human, I’m a wolf too. The senses and instincts are wolf. Emotions human, just stronger. The wolf is supposed to guide us, lead us to pack, warn us about threats.” Derek pauses, knowing the question that’s coming; hating the truth of the answer.

“Did it warn you about Kate?” Stiles asks softly.

Derek takes a deep breath in, letting it out slowly. “I was a kid. Still leaning to control and communicate with the wolf. Learning how to interpret what is was saying. Also a little rebellious. I didn’t want to listen to anyone or any _thing_ about what I felt or wanted.”

“Hm, sounds familiar.” Stiles quipped, an attempt to ease the tension.

Derek felt a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “It fought me, the wolf, when I met Kate. I couldn’t decipher what it meant though. It was a strong feeling though. And Kate was so…” saying it felt wrong, he couldn’t. It was a betrayal to even think it.

“Psychos can be beautiful.”

Derek nodded, thankful that somehow Stiles had learned to read him so well.

“I thought the wolf was trying to get to her, that it saw her and  _wanted_ her. I learned later that yes, it  _did_ want her. Just not in the way I thought it did. I got it mixed up. I was still learning. If I was able to connect more with the wolf, if I was more in-tune with it…I didn’t know what it had meant. It was confusing. And she was attracted to me, she smiled and was flirting and…”

“And you were a  _17-year-old_ boy.”

“Exactly. I interrupted it how I  _wanted_ to. So, yes. The wolf  _did_ warn me. But I didn’t understand. I thought it was crying out for it’s mate, not warning me about a threat.” 

“Mate? That’s…that’s a  _thing_?”

Derek nodded. “Human  _and_ wolf, Stiles. And wolves’ mate for life.”

Stiles paused, staring at Derek opened mouthed. “So…werewolves…you mate for life? But…you’ve had other relationships.”

“It takes time to find your mate. There can be other people in between until then. But when we meet our  _mate_ , it’s like nothing else we’ve ever felt. The desires to protect and care for them are so strong it’s hard to fight. But not impossible. It’s an unpleasant thing to do, going against instinct and what feels  _right._ But it can be done.”

Stiles lets out a shaky breath. “Have…have  _you_ done that?”

“I’ve  _been_ do that. Maybe that’s why I’m failing as an alpha.”

Stiles reaches out, taking Derek’s hand from where it hung between his knees and lacing their fingers together.

“So, stop. Stop fighting it.”

Derek turns to look at Stiles. The boy leans forward, resting their foreheads together with closed eyes.

“If the alphas find out, they’ll kill you.” Derek whispers.

“We can handle them.”

Derek shakes his head lightly. “If they kill you, I’ll go feral Stiles.”

Stiles snaps his head up. “ _What_!?”

“A wolf losing their mate is 100 times worse than just losing their pack. Why do you think Peter is the way he is?”

“I…I just sort of thought he was  _always_ like this.”

Derek shook his head sadly, dropping his eyes to his and Stiles’ hands linked together. “No. My Aunt Nina died in the fire with the others. She’s the reason Peter is even alive. She pushed him out of the way as a tank in the basement blew. He was knock back enough to where the fire hadn’t completely spread. It was slower to engulf that part of the basement, it gave the fire department time to get there and get him out.”

“Wow. I never…I never thought of Peter like…just…wow.”

Derek shrugged, rubbing his thumb back and forth against Stiles’ hand. “He was my best friend once. Loosing Aunt Nina…well, you know him now.”

“Losing a mate really does that?”

Derek nodded. “It would be the same for me, if something ever happened to  _you._ Stiles,  _you_ are my  _mate_.” 

Stiles shallowed around the lump in his throat. “I…I didn’t think you’d…I mean I got it, you  _implied_ it but I didn’t think you’d  _say_ it.”

Derek loosened his hold on Stiles’ hand, attempting to drop it. Stiles was quick to squeeze tighter, even bringing his other hand to cover his to help keep him near. The wolf smiled softly at the act, something settling within him.

“I still think that you should go.” Derek told him.

Stiles snorted, bringing his head down to lay on Derek’s shoulder. “Is that why you came down the stairs after me? Honestly, I give you points for holding out that long. I sort of thought you’d grab me before I was out the door.”

Derek lean his head against Stiles’. “I told you, the instincts to take care of a mate are difficult to fight. You were hurting-”

“Duh.”

“And I was the cause. I thought it would be better. But…I…” Derek sighed, turning to bury his face in the boy’s hair, inhaling the scent of his mate to help calm him. “I don’t know what to do here, Stiles.” He murmured. “I  _need_ you to stay safe, but I can’t let you go. I try and I just  _can’t._ ”

“Well…we’re doing this whole talking open and honest thing, right? So, let’s just try and figure this out.” Stiles squeezes Derek’s hand before continuing. “Things we know; I love you, I’m your mate. You think you’re the worst, which is bullshit but that’s another argument for later. You want to keep me safe, you’re afraid of what will happen if something happened to me.”

“Stating the obvious.  _Very_ helpful.”

“Sh. I’m thinking.”

“Great.” Derek mutters with an exasperated sigh.

“Dick.” Stiles pushes at the wolf. “I think that we need to just jump all in, you know? Like…okay,” Stiles releases his hold on Derek and lifts his head to look into the wolf’s eyes. “I’m a potential target as your mate, right?”

“How are you not more interested in the fact that you’re my  _mate_?”

“Oh, I  _am_ , and we’ll get to that. But we have to sort this out before that.  _So_ ; mate equals target.  _But_ , so does  _pack_ , right?”

Derek frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Someone looking to get to you, whether it’s just to hurt you or manipulate you, would use any means they could to do so. Going after you pack, threatening them, hurting them, would that not be something they’d do?”

Derek paused, thinking that over. “Yeah, most likely. They’d go after anything that meant something to me.”

“So,  _pack._ And maybe even pack adjacent.” Derek gives him a look that tells him he’ll have to spell it out. Stiles sighs like it’s a chore. “Scott isn’t pack, but he’s close enough. Anyone that would be connected closely with him would be close enough. He’s not pack but he’s an ally. Wouldn’t someone go after him too? Wouldn’t you try to protect and help him or even Melissa?”

“Of course, Scott never wanted this life. And he may not be pack but he’s a friend.”

“I fall into that vast gray area between pack and pack adjacent. I fall into that danger zone regardless of my current or future relationship with you. If  _anything_ more so because I’m a human among wolves and I can be used to hurt not one pack but two. I’m in danger with or without you Derek. If I’m in danger either way, why can’t I be in danger  _with_ you, and maybe even have a better chance at staying, you know,  _alive._ ” Derek stares blankly at him for a minute before shaking his head with a laugh. “What? What’s so funny?”

Derek keeps shaking his head, taking Stiles’ face between his hands and pressing their lips together. Stiles melts into his touch, sighing in content which twists into a moan when Derek’s tongue tracks along his bottoms lip.

When Derek pulls back, still smiling. Stiles makes a soft noise of protest.

“Leave it to you to find a way around every protest I had.”

Stiles grinned. “So…did I break you then? Are you caving? My dad said that if I was patient then you’d come around but, I mean has he  _met_ me?” Derek’s smile dropped, his eye blown wide. Stiles stared back at him, scrunching his eyebrows in confusion. “What?”

“You…you talked to your  _dad._ About  _me?_ ”

Stiles shrugged, tilting his head to the side with a soft smile. “He’s my dad. I talk to him about everything. Well…not the werewolf things, but everything else. And he’s surprisingly great at relationship and potential relationship advise. He actually wasn’t surprised at all. Like not even a little.”

“What do you mean?”

“I went to him and just said ‘dad, I need to talk to you about something and I just really need you to listen because I actually need your advice too’. Then he just turned around, leaned back on the counter and said ‘you’ve been dressing much better lately’ and smiled. It was a  _huge_ relief. And not a bad ice break. My dad’s kind of funny it turns out.”

Derek looked at Stiles, looking even more confused. “He said that you were  _dressing_ better?”

Stiles grinned and nodded. “Yeah, when we had been at Jungle trying to get Jackson out after  _someone_ slashed at his throat,” Derek shrugged, not appearing guilty at all. “Dad was there and I was trying to come up with a reason to be there. I told him there was something we needed to talk about and he immediately dismissed me being gay. I protested, and he said “not dress like that”. And to be fair I was not in my best clothes and he wasn’t  _wrong_  technically;I’m not gay.”

Derek smiled then, leaning in to brush their lips together. “No?” He questioned.

Stiles made a soft squeak noise at the feeling of Derek’s hand slid up his leg.

“Man when you flip you  _flip._ You’re going to make me dizzy here.”

Derek’s mouth was at his neck, lips ghosting over his skin sending a shiver down his spine and nipping at his ear. “I’d rather make you breathless.”

“Fuck.” Stiles gasps, wrapping his arms around Derek. “You’re a menace, aren’t you? I should maybe rethink this whole ‘I’m in love with you' thing, shouldn’t I?”

“Mmm.” Derek hummed, teeth dragging along the cord of Stiles’ neck, a pleased rumple emitting from his chest when the boy tilted his head back for him.

“Der.” Stiles taps at Derek’s back, trying to draw his attention back. “Fuck.” Stiles sighed, his head rolling back as Derek’s hand moved up under his shirt, his finger curling around his waist for the second time that night. “Derek, we’re kind of still on the stairs. Hey, Der? Derek!”

Derek pulled back, looking down at Stiles, lifting his shirt. “What? Shit Stiles, I’m sorry! Did I cut you?”

“Hey, hey, stop. I’m fine, see.” Stiles tells him as the wolf inspects his side. “I’m fine. I was just  _saying_ that we’re still on the stairs and that this isn’t really the most comfortable place for any of this that’s going on.”

Derek let out a shaky breath, his head falling to Stiles’ shoulder. “You scared me.”

Stiles laughed, dragging his fingers through Derek’s hair. “You’re claws weren’t even out.”

“You put me on edge.” The wolf confesses.

“On edge? Really?” Stiles says, trying and failing to not feel a  _little_ bit proud.

Derek nodded, pulling away to look into Stiles’ eyes. “I told you, fighting against the instinct to be with a mate is very difficult. There’s a need to be near, a drive to…”

“ _Mate_.” Stiles supplies with a wicked grin.

Derek scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Something like that, yes.”

“Dude, you’ve got it  _bad_. And for  _me_ , of all people. I’m all skinny and flailing and sarcastic. That’s just  _embarrassing_.”

Derek leans down to bite at the boys jaw. “You know how you were just up there yelling at me? How you went off about what I see in myself,  _how_ I see myself?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t talk about yourself like that. Don’t put yourself down.”

“I wasn’t…not exactly. I  _am_ skinny-“

“ _Slender.”_ Derek corrects kissing his neck.

“And I flail…like  _a lot_.”

“ _Energetic_.” The wolf tells him, nipping at his jaw.

“And I’m a sarcastic little shit.”

“ _Verbally artistic_.” Derek brushes his lips against Stiles’ in a tender kiss.

Stiles smiles against his mouth. “You’re ridiculous. Help me up before I become paralyzed from laying on these stairs like this.”

Derek stands, keeping himself in front of Stiles to ensure he doesn’t slide down the steps. The boy looks up at him with a bright smile as the wolf reaches down, taking a hand in each of his own to pull him up. Stiles stood just above him now, looking down at him with a fond smile, Derek’s returning smile was soft. The wolf moved his hands to the boys hips, Stiles’ hands coming to rest on his shoulders.

“You wouldn’t become paralyzed. Don’t be so overdramatic.”

“Hey,” Stiles turns around, his hand falling to down to grab onto Derek’s, pulling the wolf up the stairs behind him. “You’re a  _werewolf_ , not a  _doctor_  last I checked, what do you know?”

Derek allows Stiles to tug him up the stairs, back into the loft. He stops him just inside the doorway, pulling at his hand and he tries to walk further into the space.

Stiles turns to him with a quizzical look. “What’s up?” He asks, seeing the strained expression on Derek’s face.

“You’re going to have to be patient.”

“Patient?”

Derek nods, taking Stiles’ hand in his again, moving his thumb back and forth over his knuckles. “I’m going to say the wrong thing,  _do_ the wrong thing. I’ve spent over a  _year_ pushing back against this, fighting the wolf at every turn thinking it was the only way I could protect you. I’m still going to want to protect you; and it’s still in my head that the best way to do that is to keep you away from me.”

Stiles tugs Derek’s forward, placing the mans arms around his waist and wrapping his up around his neck. “Yeah, well you should have thought about that before you flew out of here to ravage me on the stairs.”

Derek’s head fell back with a sigh. “That’s not even  _close_ to what happened.”

“It’s a  _little_ close to what happened. You were a total asshole and then I  _stormed_ out of here-“

“More like sulked out.”

“Down the stairs I went, head held high-“

“Shuffling  _slowly_." 

“And then you realized that if you didn’t come after me then, then I’d be gone forever and you just couldn’t  _bare_ the thought of your life without me.”

“Pity. I took  _pity_ on you. That’s what it was.”

“You confessed you’re undying love for me, said there was no else in the  _world_ that completes you like I do-“

“That part actually isn’t too far off.”

Stiles grins, pressing his lips to Derek’s. “And here we are.”

“Here we are.” Derek rolled his eyes. “You’re a  _little_ off with the details.”

“Nope. That’s how I remember it happening. And that’s what I’m telling everyone happened. And you’ll let me.”

Derek bent his head down, nuzzling into Stiles’ neck. “Hmm. I will?”

Stiles tightened his hold around Derek’s neck, pressing in close to the warmth of his body. “Yup. And you know  _why_ you’ll let me?”

“Why’s that?” He asked, trailing his nose up his neck.

“Because, just for a second, I was crushed. Completely obliterated. It wasn’t just being shot down; I was shot, hung, and drown.” Derek’s arms tighten around his waist. “I almost didn’t even stop when you came after me, I didn’t want to look at you. And it was stupid because it totally contradicted what I said about not letting this be anything and I went back on not wanting to leave you. I felt like shit that I couldn’t just  _stay._ And I felt like shit because I still  _wanted_ to stay.”

Derek pulls away from where he was hiding his face in Stiles’ neck, looking him in the eye for a moment before resting their foreheads together with a sigh.

“I’m sorry. You really do deserve better than me. I should have just never said anything. Never  _done_ anything. If I didn’t reach out after you told me you loved me-“

“We wouldn’t be standing in your threshold like this. Close.  _Together_. Working on  _maybe_ being happy.”

Derek huffed a short laugh. “ _Maybe_.”

“ _Maybe._ I think there’s still some things you’ve got to come to terms with. Some things we need to get into more.” Derek nodded, eyes closed. “Good news is you were far more vocal tonight about all this than I’ve ever heard you be before.”

“I talk plenty,  _Stiles._ ”

“Growling and scowling is not a form of speech. Just because  _I_ am fluent in Grumpy Werewolf doesn’t not mean it’s an  _actual_ language.”

“When it’s  _important_ , I talk.  _This_ , is important.  _You_ are important.”

Stiles smiles, tucking his face in the crock of Derek’s neck. The wolf wraps his arms around him, a low rumble vibrating through his chest, pressing his lip to his temple.

“You sort of a softy, aren’t you?”

“Mmm.” Derek hummed.

They stood just inside the doorway, stuck together, for a few quiet moments.

“Der?”

“Yeah?” Derek whispered into his hair.

“Can we maybe go  _all the way_ inside? I wasn’t lying when I said I was tired. I  _can_ crash on your couch, right? Like you have extra blankets for this kind of thing? You know,  _people._ ”

Derek releases his hold on Stiles, pulling away. “Of course I have extra blankets.”

“Great. Um, where? Cause I tend to get cold at night and this place is a bit on the drafty side.” Stiles steps into the loft, looking around for what might be a closet.

Derek nods his head toward the stairs. “They’re in the closet up stairs. But...”

Stiles goes to the bottom step, grabbing the rail to start the climb up. “Awesome, I’ve never been up there. Ew. Hold on. That’s like Peters  _den._ Isn’t it? Wait, but? Did you say  _but_? No  _but_. Stiles is tired, Derek. So very, very  _tired._ So  _why_ but?”

“I was going to say, but you don’t have to sleep on the couch.”

Stiles turns to face him, one foot on the bottom step. “Then where would I sleep?” He asks with a slight waiver in his voice.

Derek steps forward, meeting him at the base of the stairs. “The…bed? If you wanted.”

“The  _bed_ …like  _your_ bed?” Derek nodded. “So like…” Stiles step off the stair, on to the floor and up to Derek. “Would I be  _alone_ in this mythical bed you speak of?”

Derek rolls his eyes. “Despite what you believe, I am not  _always_ lurking in the shadows. I  _do_ sleep and I  _do_ have a bed.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Stiles says, waving his hands dismissively. “Not what I was asking. Will I be alone?”

Derek crowds up into Stiles’ space. “You don’t  _have_ to be. I was going to offer you the bed and take the couch myself.” He tells him with a smirk.

Stiles laughs, taking Derek’s hand and walking toward the other side of the loft where he’s seen Derek’s bed made up. “God you’re a terrible lair. You weren’t even  _thinking_ that.”

Derek walked presses against Stiles’ back, guiding him to the bed. “Honestly,” He says into his ear. “I don’t think the wolf would  _let_ me leave you right now. Not tonight.”

Stiles kicks his shoes off and jumps onto the bed, shimmying under the covers. “Just tonight?” He ask, wiggling his eyebrows.

Derek toes off his own shoes and crawls into the bed more slowly. Stiles pulls back the covers for him to slide under. They lay on their sides, facing each other.

Stiles’ heart began to beat faster, feeling more nervous suddenly. “Your bed is really comfy. And your pillows are nice and soft. They’re good pillows. And hey, what’s the thread count on these sheets? 600? Gotta be at  _least_ 600\. They’re good, nice. Also very soft. And-"

Derek presses his mouth to Stiles’, curling his hand around his waist, pulling him flush against his body. “Stiles, relax.”

“Heh, yeah sure.  _Relax,_ totally. I can do that. Just laying here. In bed. With a ridiculous attractive werewolf. Who I’m apparently  _mates_ with. Okay so is it wildly inappropriate that I would very much like to discuss  _that_ right now?”

“In the morning.” Derek tells him, closing his eyes.

“But I’m ready to talk  _now_. Like  _how_ does it work? Are you like more in-tune with me or something? How did you even know? Will there be any differences from my end? Is there something we have to-"

“ _Stiles_.”

“Hmm?”

“ _Sleep_. I’ll tell you what I know about it in the morning. But just  _sleep_. We  _both_ need it.”

“But I-" Derek turns onto his back, pulling Stiles on top of him so that his head is resting on his chest. He brings one hand to the boys shoulder, tucking his head under his chin, and the other slowly strokes up and down his spine. “Okay, yeah sleep. I can do sleep.” He says with a big yawn.

Derek press a smile to the top of his head. “Good night, Stiles.”

“Mmm, ‘night Der.”

Stiles closes his eyes, listen to the steady beating of Derek’s heart. His nerves are still keeping him awake, but the warmth of being in Derek’s arms is helping to calm him and get him to feel more at ease. He stays awake, eyes closed, for awhile. Letting himself bask in the warmth of the werewolf beneath him.

Only an about an hour after they’d climbed in bed, Stiles hears the squeal of the tracks for the door as it’s pulled open. A set of soft foot steps pads across the floor. Stiles barely registers the shifting of the bed, too close to sleep, now, to even care. Instinct makes Derek shift, inching over with his grip firmly around Stiles.

Stiles make an annoyed noise in protest of the movement, having been on the verge of sleep. “Why…” He groans.

“Cora.” Derek tells him, kissing his forehead.

“If you two start being gross I’m going to gut you both.” Cora complains, sliding in next to her brother.

“Hey, you’re the one who just climbed into the bed. We could have been having sex and doing sex things. And being all naked and sex like.” Stiles mumbles.

“God, Stiles shut  _up_. Der you  _sure_ you want  _that_ as your  _mate_?” Cora ask with an irritated tone.

“Wait!” Stiles shot up, smacking Derek in the face with his flailing hand, making him grunt at the impact. “You  _knew_!?”

Cora looked over her shoulder at him and scoffed. “Of  _course_ I knew.”

“Did he tell you? Did you  _tell_ her? You  _talked_ to her about me?!”

Derek rubbed his cheek where Stiles’ hand had mad contact. “You talked to your dad about me.”

“That’s…that’s like  _totally_ different!”

Derek sigh, wrapping an arm around Stiles’ torso, pulling him back down on the bed. “Can we  _please_ just go to sleep?”

“Yea,  _spaz_. Go to sleep.”

“Shut up  _Cora._ I like full on  _flirted_ with you! And you flirted  _back_! And you  _knew._ The  _whole_ time and didn’t  _say_ anything?!”

“This way was more fun.”

“You  _flirted_ with someone you knew was your brothers  _mate_!? How is that even  _okay_!?”

“Derek can you put a muzzle on him or something. I’m trying to sleep here.”

Stiles flails, trying to sit up again, fighting Derek’s hold on him. “A  _muzzle_?! Listen you-"

“Stiles! Just let it go and go to sleep.”

 _“_ But she-"

“ _Cora_ , knock it  _off._ He was almost asleep until you started with him.”

“But I was just-"

“I don’t  _care_!  _Sleep_.  ** _Both_** of you! Or I’m moving to the couch.”

“Nooo! You’re so warm! Don’t leave.” Stiles whined, wrapping himself around Derek like an octopus.

“Then cut it out and go to sleep. You two are being ridiculous.”

Stiles stayed wrapped around Derek, snuggling in close while the wolf kept his arm around him.

Soon everything was quiet once again, Derek’s heart a steady melody beneath Stiles.

“He threw me off the roof.”

Stiles opened his eyes, blinking at Cora in the dark. “What?” He asked confused.

“Oh my god.” Derek mumbled into Stiles’ hair.

“Derek. He threw me off the roof. After he saw me flirting back a little. That’s how I knew.”

Stiles smiled to himself, turning his face into Derek’s shoulder. “You totally tried to kill your sister for me.”

“Only a little…I knew she’d be fine.”

Stiles clung to the wolf tighter, tangling their legs together. “You tried to kill you sister for me.”

Derek laughed lightly. “Well, you’re supposed to be  _mine_.”

“Ooo.  _Possessive_ , are we? Interesting.”

“For the love of  _God_ please  _stop_.” Cora groaned into the dark.  “I can accept that you two are going to be all mushy and coupley but  _please_ not right now.”

“Fine.” Stiles said, pressing his lips to the center of Derek’s chest. “But just  _wait_ until tomorrow. There’s going to be footsie and  _everything_.”

“Oh  _joy_.”

“Can we go to sleep now?” Derek almost pleaded.

“Sure, just make sure  _Cora_ keeps her mouth shut. She keeps starting it.”

“ ** _Cora_** _.”_ Derek ground out before she could say anything. “Open your mouth, and you’re going off the roof again.”

Cora sighed, grumbling something unintelligible before settling down in the bed, her back to Derek and Stiles.

“And  _you_ , please. Go to sleep.”

“Yes, Derek.” Stiles tells him quietly with a small smile.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Derek woke up to the sound of the shower running and Stiles softly snoring beside him. The boy slept on his side, pressed against the wolf with his arm draped over his abdomen. Derek had his arm underneath him, wrapped around him. He smiled down at Stiles as he slept on, pressing a light kiss to the top of his head.

Derek carefully extracted his arm and slowly rose from the bed, jarring it as little as possible. Stiles grumbled in protest, grabbing onto Derek’s arm as he tried to stand.

“No. Why?”

Derek rolled his eyes, uncurling the hand from his forearm. “Cora’s in the shower, I’m making breakfast.”

“I was sleeping.” Stiles whined, sitting up in the bed and wiping the sleep from his eyes.

“So, go back to sleep.”

Stiles rolled off the bed, stumbling after Derek into the kitchen. “It’s too cold there now, I won’t be able to get back to sleep.” Stiles hopped up onto the counter, reaching for a banana. “Besides, I probably shouldn’t be sleeping all day long. Plus, we sort of have some things to work out and talk about.”

Derek nodded, pulling out a loaf of bread and slicing it thick for French toast. “There are a few things we should talk about, yes.”

“Do it when I leave.” Cora called, walking down the hall. “I don’t need to know any more about you two then I already do. That little pack pile last night was probably the worst decision I ever made. I regret everything.”

“Don’t be over dramatic, Cora.” Derek said with a roll of his eyes, placing the slices of coated bread in the pan. “We slept.”

“Yeah,” Cora said, taking a seat at the counter. “But your boy toy over there, _talks in his sleep_.”

“I do not.”

“You _do_. And you were mumbling _my brother’s name_!”

“So?” Stiles shrugged, finishing his banana.

“I’m _pretty sure_ in your dream you were _moaning_ it.”

“ _Cora._ ” Derek groaned.

“ _What_?! He’s _your_ boy toy! He was having a sex dream with me like _right there_!”

“Hey, no one asked you to climb into bed! Why _did_ you climb in bed?” Stiles asked, his head tilted to the side. “Do you normally do that?”

“No, she doesn’t. Normally she avoids me.” Derek mutters sourly.

Stiles looks to his left at the wolf at the stove, reached out and squeezes his shoulder before turning his attention back to Core with narrow eyes. “So, then why? If you tend to avoid your _brother_?”

Guilt flashes in Cora’s eyes, her gaze falling to her hands folded together on the counter. “I…I don’t mean to avoid him; Derek, I don’t.” Derek grunted in response. “Just…last night…last night there was a real chance I could have lost you, in more ways than one. Kali could have _killed_ you. And you could have easily shut everyone and _everything_ out after they made you…” Cora squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “I just needed to be close last night, to know that you were still here. To know that you hadn’t left.”

Derek plated a few pieces of French toast, turning around and setting them in from on his sister. “I’m not going anywhere, not anytime soon and not if I can help it.”

Cora gave him a tight smile, picking at her cinnamon dusted bread. “I think that I can thank Stiles for that.”

Stiles looks at her in surprise. “Me?”

“Yeah. I mean, I left. I couldn’t handle being here, none of us knew how to handle this. None of us stayed. We basically abandoned our alpha; I abandoned my brother. But you didn’t; you stayed here with him and refused to leave.”

Stiles shrugged, fidgeting with his fingers. “It seemed like the right thing to do.” Derek turned to Stiles with a smile, handing him a plate.

“Well, you obviously really do care about him.”

Stiles nodded. “Yeah.”

“And I assume you’ve _told_ him as much? Not just agreeing with a statement I said?”

“Cora, leave him alone.”

“Shut up, Derek. Stiles and I are having a very important discussion. Butt out.”

“A discussion about _me_ , with me standing two feet from him.”

“Shhh. Stiles, answer.”

Stiles smirked. “Yes. I told him.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“That I love him.” Stiles says simply. “That I couldn’t ever forgive myself if something happened and I never told him.”

Cora stared at Stiles for a moment before nodding. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yup.” Cora says, popping the ‘p’ as she stands up. “Just know that I’m coming after you if you ever hurt him.”

“ _Cora_.”

“What? I’m your sister, it’s my job to intimidate and threaten your boyfriend.” Cora shrugged leaving the room to go upstairs, leaving Derek and Stiles to finish their breakfast.

Derek leans against the counter next to Stiles, his hip pressed against the boy’s leg, with his plate in hand. After they’ve finished, Derek takes their plates and Cora from the counter and washes them, setting them in the rack to dry.

“So.” Stiles says slowly, swinging his legs back and forth on the counter.

“So.”

“Talking, right? We should do that now?”

Derek folds his arms across his chest, nodding. “Yeah, now is a good time. Cora’s upstairs, she has music playing. I think she wanted to give us some privacy.” Stiles bobs his head up and down. “Where should we start?”

“Um…Well, there…there is one thing that I think we should sort of tackle first. Before we get into anything else really.”

“What’s that?”

“Ms. Blake?”

Derek turns to Stiles, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. “Jennifer? What about her?”

Stiles sighs, running his hand through his hair. “You guys are like a _thing_ , aren’t you? You went all ‘knight in shining armor’ when Boyd and Cora we let out of that bank vault. You sought her out after you almost _died_ , after we _all_ thought you were dead. You guys probably…you know… _know_ each other.”

Derek pushed away from the counter, moving to stand in front of Stiles between his open leg, placing his hands on his waist. “Jennifer and I? We weren’t going to last, I knew that from the start. She was just…there, I guess. A lot was going on. We lost Erica, I found out my baby sister was alive, I held off my beta and my sister as they tried to rip me apart. And, yeah, I went to her after that fall with Ennis, but I was weak and it was in the school parking lot. I can’t be sure if I was really seeking her out or if I was looking for pack…or you.”

“Me? Why would you have been looking for me?”

“I told you last night, you’re my mate. That didn’t just happen overnight; I’ve known for a while but I never had intentions of doing anything about it. You’re young and there’s a lot of baggage attached to my life. I could have easily been looking for you in my weakened state; the wolf coming forward and seeking out its mate for help and comfort.”

Stiles ducked his head, smiling shyly as blush crept up his face. Derek brought a hand up, cupping the side of his face and gently tilting his head up. “Is that really something that you…that your wolf would do?”

“Of course. There are times where the wolf’s instincts are stronger; being weak and injured like I was, there’s a good chance that I was led to the school for you. I just happened to find Jennifer first.”

“So…you and Ms. Blake?”

“Stiles, me and her were already done. Kali and the twins thought there was something there between us so they tried to us her as leverage to get me to do what they wanted. I still didn’t make a move to hurt Boyd, they had to force that. If it had been _you_ they used, well…It wouldn’t have been an easy decision but…”

Stiles’ eyes widen in shock. “You…you would have killed Boyd?”

“To save you? Yes. And he would have understood.”

“Why?” Derek bowed his head, bringing his and Stiles’ foreheads together. “I mean why would he understand?”

“Because he knew about you, knew what you are to me. He’s the only one who I ever actually _told_. Cora just made a guess, I never confirmed anything for her; you could say me throwing her off the roof was confirmation, but I never _verbally_ confirmed anything to her. Boyd though, I talked to him about it; tried to figured out what to do about it, how to approach it.”

“What…what did he say? About me?”

Derek smiled at the boy before him, tilting his head up to peck a quick kiss to Stiles’ lips. “He said I should go for it, didn’t understand why I wouldn’t. Like _you_ , he didn’t agree with my reasons for not doing anything about it. I told him more about how the mate bond works, that it wasn’t something that created an attraction but something that usually grew with time and trust. I told him that with _you_ , it was much more instant then it would normally be; then it _should_ have been. It was something that seemed to spark when we met; I knew you were afraid of me, but you stared me down regardless of that. Your own fear has never mattered to you, not where your friends are involved. You’re brave and loyal and selfless. All these things I thought, I _still_ think, I don’t deserve.”

Stiles curls his hand around Derek’s neck, rubbing his thumb along his jaw. “Of _course_ you do, Derek. And I’ll tell you that you deserve more than you think every day if I have to. You think that you’re worse than Kate somehow, but just you fearing that or thinking that makes you _better_. You _care_ if you hurt someone. She got a sick pleasure out of it.”

“Boyd said you would be good for me, that you’d call me on my shit.”

Stiles laughed lightly. “I already do that.”

“He said you wouldn’t let me punish myself or let me pull away from anyone. You have a way of getting exactly what you want and it’s never anything that benefits you; you’re always looking for that one thing that will help someone else.”

“I think, out of respect for Boyd, you should probably listen to him; take his advice and be a little selfish. Take something for yourself. Whether it’s me or Ms. Blake or if it’s a ride to the coast; do something for _you_.”

Derek presses his lips to Stiles’, cradling his face between his hands. “And if I want _you_ to take a ride to the coast _with_ me?”

Stiles grins at him, wrapping his arms around the wolf’s neck and pulling him against the counter. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the beach.”

Derek brushes his nose against Stiles’. “My, ah, my family…they had a house, a cabin, near the beach. More in the woods than on the beach, but there’s a path. It’s about a 30-minute hike out; there’s a road, only takes a few minutes to drive around but we always took the path. We used to go for the whole summer. I haven’t been since the fire, I don’t even know if the cabin is still standing; I think Laura set up something, a grounds keeper, but I don’t know how payment worked or if it was automatic or if they just had run of the place for nothing.”

Stiles unlinked his fingers from behind Derek’s head, sliding them to the side of his neck and running his thumbs under his jaw. “We can go check it out, see how the house is. If you want.”

Derek nodded. “You’ll come with me?”

“Of course, Der.”

Derek let out a long breath he’d been holding in. “Okay. Okay, we’ll go.”

“Awesome.” Stiles grins, patting Derek’s shoulders, nudging him back as he slid off the counter. “When do you want to go?”

Derek grabs onto Stiles’ wrist as he goes to move passed him, tugging him back gently. “Now. Today?” Derek says quietly.

Stiles raises his eyebrows at Derek. “You want to leave today? I, uhm, well I don’t even have any stuff. We’ll have to stop at my place first and I need to let my dad know I’m going to be away for a couple days.”

“Stiles, no-never mind. It was a stupid idea, its short notice and-”

“What, no! We’re going, I just – I just can’t up and leave. I just need to let my dad know and it’ll take me five minutes to shove a few things into a bag.”

“Stiles, seriously…maybe the time isn’t right. We’ll wait-”

“ _No_.” Stiles grabs Derek’s hand, pressing his lips to his knuckles. “We are _going_. We’re going and you’re going to run on the beach and hike through the woods. You’re going to tell me embarrassing stories about Cora and stories about Laura. You’re going to show me your favorite places to hid and how your mom would intervein when things got out of hand with the Hale kids.” Derek let out a short laugh, his eyes shining. “You’re going to let yourself _remember_ them. And if you want, if it gets to be too much, I’ll tell you about my mom. About her cooking and her jokes. About the games we played and how I didn’t want to play with Scott at first because me and _her_ were best friends and playing with Scott meant I wouldn’t be playing with her and I didn’t want her to feel alone or left out.” Stiles smiled weakly at the wolf, his own eyes shining now. “We’re going to lay outside and watch the stars and map out constellations. And we’re going to forget about the shit that’s here for just a minute. You need this. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have brought it up. Okay?” Derek nodded, biting the inside of his cheek. “Okay. Well, pack you bag and grab your keys.”

“You want to go right now?”

“Why not? No time like the present my friend.” Stiles smiles at him, bringing him in for a kiss. “I don’t know how long it’ll take to get there, I assume you do though. So, let’s get going.”

Derek kisses Stiles back, cupping the back of his neck to deepen it. “Thank you.” He murmers against his lips.

“Anything for you, Sourwolf.” Stile pushes at Derek’s chest with both hands. “Now go! We still have to stop at my place so I can grab some clothes. And snacks! We’ll need snacks too!”

Derek shook his head, laughing as he pulled clothes out from the draw under his platform bed and put them in a bag. “Stiles, it’s not that far.”

“How far is _not far_? Oh, pack the gray one. And the Red.” Stiles directs as Derek’s pulling out shits. “I like the red, looks good on you.”

Derek turns to him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. “The red looks good, huh?” Stiles shrugs, his cheeks blushing. Smiling, Derek places the red Henley into his bag. “It’s only a few hours out to the cabin, maybe 3 hours.”

“3 hours, is 2 hours too long and will require _snacks_.”

“Stiles.” Derek sighs, straightening up and zipping his bag.

Stiles pouts at the wolf as he comes to stand in front of him. “Are you really going to deny me snacks, Derek? Is this how we’re really starting our relationship? With the denial of _snacks_?”

Derek shakes his head, wrapping an arm around the boy’s waist and pulling him to the door. “Fine, we’ll get snacks.”

Stiles grins, planting a kiss on Derek’s cheek and snatching the keys for the Camaro off the counter as they walk by. “You’re the best.”

“Not quite, but maybe someday. Come on. I’ll text Cora on the way, let her know we’re leaving for a couple days.”

The two trot down the stairs and get into the Camaro, heading out toward Stiles’ house. They pull up a 10 minutes later with the police cruiser parked in the driveway.

Stiles opens the door, pausing before getting out. He turns back to Derek who’s sitting still behind the wheel. “You gonna come in or just sit out here?”

“Oh, um…yeah. Yeah, I’ll come in. I guess.”

Stiles laughs as he gets out, closing the door after he’s standing outside of the car. “No one is forcing you dude. What’s the big deal anyway?”

Derek gets out, following Stiles up to the door. “You told you _dad_ about me, remember? Don’t you think he’ll find it weird that we’re suddenly headed out of town?”

Stiles rolls his eyes, unlocking his front door and letting Derek step in before him. “You need to relax. I may have talked to him about you but nothing has even started until last night. In _fact,_ up until last night I still thought you hated me a little.”

Derek rolls his eyes, letting Stiles step in front of him as he enters the house and heads into the kitchen. He freezes for a moment seeing the sheriff sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper. Stiles saunters in, like everything is the same as it’s ever been. The sheriff glances up at his son, shooting him a narrowed eyed glare when the boy swipes a piece of bacon from the plate next to him.

“Hm.” Stiles chews the crisp piece of bacon. “ _This_ does not taste like the delicious turkey bacon I got the other day.”

“Huh, that’s weird. Maybe it’s some new kind, taste more like pork. Whatever brand this is, you should get it again.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll make sure to check the fridge every day before I walk out that door form now on.”

“Stiles,” The sheriff sighs. “A few pieces of bacon won’t kill me. Loosen up the grip a little kid.”

“Fine. Whatever. But _don’t_ get too attached to the pig.” Stiles reached into the cabinet, pulling out a bag of chips and a box of crackers. “So, dad, I’m going to go away for a couple days. It’s a long weekend for school so I’m not missing any days and all my stuff is done.”

The sheriff puts his paper down to look at his son. “Where exactly are you going?”

“Oh, a cabin near the beach. It’s Derek’s family cabin, he wants to go check on it to make sure it’s still there and see if it needs any work.”

“And you’re just going to go with Derek? Does _he_ know you’re going?”

“Ha-ha. _Yes_. He does, if you don’t believe me you can just ask him.” Stiles tells his dad, nodding to the man still standing in the doorway.

The sheriff turns around, jerking in surprise at Derek standing there. “Christ, son. Come in have a seat, don’t give an old man a heart attack. Stiles’ isn’t putting his nose in where he shouldn’t, is he?”

Derek steps into the kitchen, glancing at Stiles as the boy puts a few more items in a plastic bag. “Uh, no sir. I asked Stiles to come up with me.”

The sheriff raises an eyebrow, leaning back to watch his son for a minute before turning his attention back to Derek. “You asked my 16-year-old son to go up with you and check on a cabin that may not even be standing?” Stiles drops a box of Pop Tarts on the floor, his body going rigid. The sheriff pinches the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath in. “Stiles.”

“Dad,” The boy starts quickly, spinning around to face his father. “It’s just a check in, that’s _it_. I swear. We’ll pop up, check the place out and maybe check out the beach. And we’ll be back.”

“Stiles, do I _look_ like an idiot? Or did you just forget that it’s my _job_ to know when someone, especially my son, lying to me.”

“Dad I-”

The sheriff held up his hand, silencing Stiles. The man stood up, standing in front of Derek. “My son, is the only thing I have left. There is nothing in this world more important to me than him and _nothing_ I wouldn’t do to keep him safe; cop or not.” He throws a glance over Derek’s should at his sons pleading look. “His happiness is also important to me.”

“Sir?” Derek questions, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

“I am well away of my son’s feelings for you Hale, and judging by the humming and bouncing from my son as he rifled through our cabinets, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you know too. And I’ll wager those feelings are reciprocated.”

“Yes, sir.”

“God help me.” The sheriff grumbles, shaking his head. “He’s underage.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you’re quite a bit older than him.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Only 4 years.” Stiles mumbles from behind Derek.

“He’s to be back in this house Monday by 7 PM, in time for dinner. I want a check in by 5 PM, one minute later and I will send a search party out for you. I suggest you find the best spot for cell reception on your way out in case there’s none at the cabin. And again, my son is _underage_. Do you know the age of consent in the state of California, Mr. Hale?”

“Dad!” Stiles groans.

“18, sir.”

“And _how_ old is my son?”

“16, sir.”

“Oh my god! I’m going to pack my shit, dad can you just _stop_ , please. Before you scare him off. We _literally_ just started to even _be_ something. I would like to get in a few dates before you scare him off.”

“Well, if this little talk is enough to scare him off then maybe he’s not worth of my son; is he?”

“Dad!”

“With all due respect, Sheriff; I’m probably not worthy of your son. He’s smart, funny, loyal, brave. He tries to see the good in the people around him and tries to fix and help the ones he loves. If you’re lucky enough to be one of those people there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do to help you. He’s a good man, _raised_ by a good man. I don’t think there is _anyone_ who would _truly_ be worthy of him, but I will try. For however long he lets me, I will try to be worthy of him and be the person he sees me as.”

Stiles grins at Derek’s back, biting his lip to hid it when his father’s eyes catch his. “Well. I won’t lie, that is a _damn_ good answer.”

Silence falls between the three men.

Stiles moves up behind Derek, peeking over his shoulder. “So….” Stiles starts. “I can go? This means I can go right?”

The sheriff lets out a long, pained sigh. “Fine.”

“Yes!” Stiles pumps his fist in the air and runs off to his room.

“Keep in mind; I am the sheriff, I have a gun, and I know how to make sure no one ever finds your body. Understood?”

“Of course, sir.” Derek tells him with a stiff nod. “But, you need to know that there is nothing I would do to ever hurt Stiles. I do…I…I care about him.”

The sheriff stares at Derek for a moment before cracking a smile and settling back in his seat. “You’re not big on emotion and feelings, are you son? That took a lot for you to say.”

“I…um…” Derek rubs nervously at the back of his neck. “I don’t…um…no, no I’m not.”

“Would you relax and have a seat, Derek? Your anxiety is radiating off you and giving _me_ anxiety.” Derek tilts his head, giving the sheriff a questioning look as he lowers himself down at the table. “That was mostly for show, give Stiles a hard time. Mess with him. Expect the part where he’s the most important thing in the world to me and I’ll do anything to keep him safe. Despite your issues in the past, which I understand are partly on my son and his inability to stay out of police business, I think you’re a good kid who’s had a lot happen to him. You strike me as the type to never catch a break.”

“I…I appreciate that, sir.”

The sheriff rolled his eyes. “You can loosen up just a little, easy back on the ‘sir’. Maybe call me Noah?”

Derek smiled shyly. “Um, yeah. Maybe.”

“Okay. You know, I’m expecting you at dinner on Monday too, right?”

“Oh, uh…I don’t…I think you and Stiles-”

“Me and Stiles have had dinner alone almost every night for the past few years. He’s never had someone to bring to dinner.”

“God, dad! 5 minutes, I go upstairs for 5 minutes and here you are reminding everyone how I have _zero_ game.”

“Game?” His dad repeats, his face pinched in confusion.

“Hate to break it to you Stiles,” Derek said, raising from the table. “But I already knew you didn’t have game.” Stiles’ mouth hangs open in shock, Noah throws his head back laughing, and Derek walks up to Stiles and grabs his bag. “Grab the snacks?”

“You…you…no, okay! Just _no_. You,” Stiles turns to point a finger at his dad. “Don’t get to grill him and threaten him and then make buddy-buddy with him while I’m upstairs! And you don’t get to gang up on me and laugh when he makes a sarcastic comment at my expense! This…This…I’m not going now.”

“Oh, come on Stiles. Shouldn’t you _want_ me to get along with your boyfriends?”

“Not if it means you’re both going to conspire against me.”

Derek sighs from the doorway, slinging the bag over his shoulder. “Stiles, it was a joke. You make them at my expense all the time.”

“Yeah, well…you make it too easy.”

“Stiles, grab your bag of food and go. Have a good time and don’t forget to check in. I’ll see you _both_ for dinner Monday night.”

“See you Monday, sir.”

“ _Derek_.” The sheriff says sternly.

Derek smiled softly. “Noah.”

“Thank you. Drive safe boys.” Derek nods, walking out the door.

Stiles glared at his dad for a second before stepping forward and giving him a quick hug. “See you later dad.”

“Love you, kiddo.”

“Love you too, dad.”

Derek was waiting for Stiles at the car, throwing his bag in the trunk with the other one. He looks up as Stiles exits the house, closing the door behind him. “Ready to go?” He asks, closing the trunk. Stiles strides up to the wolf with a grin on his face. He pulls Derek in with a hand on the back of his neck, bringing their lips together in a long drawn out kiss. Derek wraps his arms around Stiles’ waist, smiling against the boy’s mouth. “What was that for?” He asks when Stiles pulls away.

Stiles shrugs, his smile soft and fond. “Because. My dad likes you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup.” Stiles tells him, pecking a kiss to his cheek and pulling away. “He likes you. I didn’t think it’d happen that quick. I guess your Hale charm works on all the Stilinski men…ew…no, forget I just said that. Don’t ever use your Hale charm on my dad, _please_.”

Derek let out a low laugh, getting in behind the wheel of the car. “You’re the one who implied I could seduce your dad.”

“ _And_ I completely regret that.” Stiles said, closing the door after he got in. “Just…we’re going to forget I said anything. Doesn’t matter, point is; my dad likes you.” Stiles looks over at Derek as he pulls out onto the road. “What’s this?”

“Hm? What’s what?”

“This.” Stiles waves a hand at Derek’s face. “There’s like…a  _glow_ here.”

“There is _not_ a glow. Don’t be an idiot.”

“You’re proud! No, no! You’re _preening_!”

Derek rolls his eyes. “I _am_ not.”

“No, you totally are!” Derek clenches is jaw, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “What is it? Is it a wolf thing? It’s my dad’s approval, isn’t it?”

Derek sighs, turning toward Main Street. “Yes. It’s a wolf thing.”

“Is it one of those things that just sort of overpowers the human side?”

Derek nods. “Yeah. Getting the approval of a mate’s alpha or family…that’s important. Without it, a werewolf will stop any and all advances.”

“So…if my dad didn’t like you…”

“Then I would stop everything.”

“Seriously?” Stiles asked, his voice raising.

Derek nods, pulling onto the highway. “Stiles, it’s about respect. It would kill me to let you go because your father didn’t approve of me, but I would have to put everything on hold.”

“Oh hold…you mean.”

“I would do whatever I could to prove myself to him, to prove myself worth of you.”

“So that little speech about no one being worth?”

The corner of Derek’s mouth twitched up. “Was all true, but also an effort to prove myself to him and show my dedication to you. Being my mate and being in my pack, does not mean you leave yours completely. Mateships are about strengthening ties and bonds; it’s meant to bring people together. For a strong mateship to occur, there needs to be trust between both packs. Trust starts with respect.” Stiles hums his acknowledgement. “Still mad?”

“I wasn’t _mad_.”

“You were getting there.”

“Well you’d just said that us continuing our relationship was dependent on my dad liking you; that could have been something you could have told me before going in.”

“Why? So you could walk in freaking out and throw up red flags? Have your dad think I did something to you? No, going in there like we did was better. You were just normal you, albeit a little more…bubbly maybe. And I was the cautious boyfriend meeting your dad _as_ your boyfriend.”

“I guess.” Stiles said with just a slight pout.

Derek reached out, taking Stiles’ hand and lacing their fingers together. “Hey,” He says, bringing Stiles’ hand up to his lips. “It all worked out, right? He would have been on guard against me the minute we walked in there. You would have been tense and nervous, feeling like there was a lot of pressure riding on that one moment.”

“There kind of was.”

Derek nodded, running his thumb on the back of Stiles’ hand. “Maybe, but it was better you not knowing. Only one of us needed to be freaking out.”

Stiles nods, tilting his head to look over at Derek. “Okay, okay. You’re right. There would have been a _few_ red flags waving if you said something before going in. I _might_ have freaked out a _little_ and my dad would have instantly thought that you were making me do something. He knew something was up either way, at least he read something positive off me.”

Derek smile, kissing the back of Stiles’ hand again. “Exactly.”

“We can go out to that cabin, try to relax and rest before diving back into this Alpha Pack mess again. And If we _happen_ to fall naked in bed so be it.”

“ _Stiles_. I was just lectured by your father about you being under age.”

“Hey, I said if we _happen_ to. Not that we _would_.”

“And we _won’t_.”

“God, you’re no fun at all.”

“You’re 16 and we’ve haven’t even been… in this…relationship for 24 hours.”

“So…too fast?”

Derek shook his head with a smile. “ _Yes_ , too fast.”

“But…we can make out on the beach, right? Maybe a _little_ more?”

Derek turns to Stiles, a predatory glint in his alpha red eyes. “ _Maybe_.”

Stiles grins wider, feeling a shiver run up his spine at the low rumble of Derek’s voice.

“Oh, this is going to be the _best_ beach trip _ever_.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I think I'm going to end it here. We all know Derek disappears for a bit after he's forced to kill Boyd, so I wanted to tie that in. And end Derek and Jennifer non-relationship, because Stiles is a good person who wouldn't be okay being involved in a cheating ring. So, yeah.


End file.
